Is Garden Grill really that bad?

[arielmomma]

We really like the Garden Grill. The food was good, especially the cheesy potatoes! The characters were great too. We will definitely go back.

 

[J3nn78]

We LOVE Garden Grill. It is one of our must dos on every trip. The food was really good. Loved the fried catfish and the vegetables were so fresh and tasty.
Nothing like cafeteria food at all.

 

[rluey29]

Okay, I think we'll go ahead and try it if for nothing else than the characters. Is there a better place to sit in the restaurant? I saw a person mention that they requested an "outside" table. What's that about?

 

[Princess Sleepy]

Think of the restaurant as a wheel. There are 2 levels: one around the "hub" and one around the "rim". From the tables on the rim you can ssee the ride "Living with the Land" as you slowly rotate. That is where we sat when we were there 2 weeks ago. It was me, DH, DD5, and DD21/2. We loved the view, loved the food, and had the best character interaction here (and we did 4 character meals including princesses). The girls talk about this meal beyond everything else. The food was fresh and brought to you. The kids loved the decorate your own cupcake dessert. My husband ate several servings of the catfish. I had some of everything. Plus, we are food snobs so we were pleasantly surprised by a lot of what we got here and at other Disney restaurants. Based on the boards, I was bracing for poor service and awful food. Good luck.

 

[mdelano4]

Been there three times and liked it very much. As some of the others have said, it's not gourmet, but it's better than the buffet character meals, that's my opinion.

 

[ofhs93]

We were just there on 2/5 and I thought the food was fine. Was it absolute top notch? No...but it was good. The flank steak was decent (we would have liked it a bit more on the rare side personally)...the kids loved the catfish...and *I* thought the turkey was cooked perfectly...moist and juicy. The sides were all quite good as well. It had to be at least decent...we had the waitress bring more steak and potatoes The characters were GREAT...especially Chip and Dale...very playfull. The kids loved the MYO cupcake...and I thought the bread pudding was quite good. I would *personally* say that we thought the food at the CP buffet was probably better...but the character interaction at GG was better and we had great service at both. I would go there again given the choice. It is one of the few character meals that is relaxing....it seems that all of the other character meals are VERY hectic...they tend to be in loud big open rooms with tons of people....the setup at Garden Grill lends itself to a more calm and laid back experience...I think that layout makes things easier on the characters and thus it shows with their more personal interaction.

 

[carmiedog]

We haven't been since 2007 so don't have a really recent review, but...

Atmosphere - OK. It is quiet and relaxing.

Characters - FANTASTIC!!!

Food - It was one of dh's favorites. I thought it was pretty good (not a big meat eater, but the catfish was decent. However, I two favorite things, the rolls with honey butter and the berry puff pastry have been replaced. Kids had a lot of fun with the decorate your own cupcakes.

 

[carmiedog]

...I two favorite things...

MY two favorite things. obviously.
I can't edit on these boards and it's driving me bonkers.

 

[mom_to_2]

We LOVE Garden Grill. It is one of our must dos on every trip. The food was really good. Loved the fried catfish and the vegetables were so fresh and tasty.
Nothing like cafeteria food at all.

Ditto.

 

[Don Disney]

We ate there in Sept.08' and won't be going back!! Lousey service,and yuk food!!! The green beans,potatoes,and soda were good-the rest was pretty blah!!! The catfish(the reason me and DW chose this place)was more peppery than hot-sauce soaked in Tabasco sauce! The waitress was about as efficient as a finger in a broken levee...but I digress.Maybe it was just an off night,but it's off our list

 

[stephd219]

We've been there twice. The first time we loved it, but most recently in Feb 09 found it lacking. The food was not as good as we had remembered. It was edible, but not great. The character interaction was still great, though. We plan on skipping this our next trip, but I'm sure we will visit again in the future.

 

[LittleMissMagic]

Well...... my family loves the Garden Grill. It's our favorite character meal. We think the food is great. The chicken is yummy and the cornbread is the best I've ever tasted (I'm from Mississippi.... I know cornbread). My sister loves the snow peas.

They did replace the Cup of Dirt with a decorate your own cupcake.... I was a little disappointed, but I've heard great things about the cupcake.

The characters are wonderful.... there are more characters per person than at most other restaurants (I believe the only one that beats it in character:guest ratio is CRT). Great character interaction. On our last visit (July '07), we got to see each character twice, and they were all very friendly.

And the atmosphere tops most of the other character dining restaurants.... the rotating restaurant is really cool.

I'd recommend it....

 

[rayasmom]

We have never eaten there because when we go in the pavillion to ride Soarin, it just smells terrible in there. I have assumed it is from that restaurant, but maybe i'm mistaken?

 

[ajleone]

What's really sad is that it used to be amazing but has gone completely downhill.

 

[indigodisney]

We really liked the Garden Grill, we did it for the characters first and the food second. The food was decent for lunch, I didn't mind it and there was certainly enough of it for the 3 of us. They made such a big deal of my daughter's birthday - the characters came around 5 or 6 times....so nice.

 

[Princess Sleepy]

We have never eaten there because when we go in the pavillion to ride Soarin, it just smells terrible in there. I have assumed it is from that restaurant, but maybe i'm mistaken?

I'm guessing that's more likely from Sunshine Seasons because they have a really eclectic bunch of foods available there. The aromas may not play well together.

 

[MICKEEP]

Terrible food and we also found the restaurant to be extremely dirty when we were there.

 

[Stitch_Is_King]

We have gone to the GG on our last two trips. The food is decent, not five star by any means, but as some have already said, it is a character meal. We really enjoyed the fried catfish (which we had never had before) and the flank steak. That being said we have decided to skip it on this trip but that is really only becuase we prefer to do character meals for breakfast.

All in all, I do not think you would be making a bad decision if you decide to give it a shot.

 

[yyx99]

We have just come back and we found the food nice the characters good, BUT we felt very rushed. in and out within the hour. has anyone else felt rushed through the meal by the server. did not really reliase that we had been quick until after and you look at the clock

 

[Disnsyncey]

My family enjoys it whenever we go and it is our restaurant of choice for the CP package